A Resource Worth Protecting

To fulfill our mission of protecting, preserving, and restoring habitat in our region, St. Johns County Audubon participates in a number of conservation programs. Our efforts help keep birds and other wildlife healthy and abundant, and ensure that future generations of Floridians can enjoy the wonder of the natural world. Read an overview of our key programs below.

The developer who wanted to build homes in southeastern Jacksonville’s Julington-Durbin Preserve said Thursday he’s giving up that idea, which had drawn heavy criticism locally and from conservationists statewide.

Instead, Bartram Park developer Tom Dodson said he’ll try to sell state the land on Black Hammock Island that he was offering as a swap for 403 acres in the Julington-Durbin peninsula at the St. Johns County line.

“Based on input we received from various preservation organizations and conservation proponents like former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney and the North Florida Land Trust, we realize that the preserve is an environmental gem and we have decided not to pursue the exchange further,” Dodson said in a written release.

Delaney was mayor when Dodson negotiated a deal in 1999 to sell about 2,000 acres in the peninsula to the state and the St. Johns River Water Management District for conservation.

Dodson acknowledged in early June that he was working on a plan to regain ownership of about a fifth of that property, including uplands near Bartram Park Boulevard, so he could build up to 1,400 homes there.That idea alarmed environmental advocates and many ordinary residents in southeastern Jacksonville. Neighborhood people worried about losing park land valued by runners and horseback riders, and environmentalists argued that selling or bartering conservation land would set a dangerous precedent for the whole state.

Groups ranging from the Center for Biological Diversity to the St. Johns County Audubon Society signed onto a letter sent to Gov. Rick Scott earlier Thursday, underscoring their opposition to developing the peninsula. Scott and the Cabinet would have had to approve selling or swapping land in the preserve.

The range of people worried about Dodson’s original plan had been hard to ignore, said St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman, who has worked on organizing opposition to development in the preserve.“I think it was the power of so many voices coming together to take a stand to preserve these lands,” Rinaman said. “So many people use and value that access to the real Florida.”

The Riverkeeper group had scheduled a July 14 rally at the preserve to build opposition to development plans, but Rinaman said that event instead will now be a celebration of the preserve being saved intact.

Dodson never sent the state a formal proposal for acquiring preserve land, but his company, Eastland Corp., acknowledged to reporters that it wanted to trade 403 acres on Black Hammock Island for the same amount of land in the preserve.

In his statement Thursday, Dodson said he would try instead to get the state to buy the Black Hammock land, which conservation advocates have described as environmentally valuable maritime hammock, a relatively rare ecosystem found on barrier islands like Black Hammock.That idea drew praise from groups that had been ready to fight to save the Julington-Durbin land.

The Timucuan Parks Foundation, a nonprofit with deep ties to the preserve, “will do whatever we can to assist in that acquisition” of Black Hammock land, said Mark Middlebrook, the foundation’s executive director.

Middlebrook said both Black Hammock and Julington-Durbin are both “critically important to the City’s environmental health,” and called Dodson’s decision wise.

Florida law limits state agencies to paying no more than the appraised value of land, but setting the value of 400 acres on Black Hammock Island can be tricky, said Jim McCarthy, president of the North Florida Land Trust. He said getting a careful appraisal is a basic first step that will give advocates a better idea how big a challenge buying the land could be.

While the state won’t spend public money above appraised values, it’s able to work with outside groups that are willing to add more money, said Dee Ann Miller, a spokeswoman for Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection.

McCarthy, whose organization owns limited amounts of land nearby, said people who were enthusiastic about preserving Black Hammock land could consider sending money to the trust’s conservation fund with a provision that it only be spent on the island. There’s no way to know how fast, if at all, contributions like that could be put to use.​Steve Patterson: (904) 359-4263

St. Johns and Flagler Shorebird Partnership

This award-winning project began as the St. Johns County Least Tern Project in 2007. Armed with a grant from Audubon Florida, the chapter set out to develop a program for protecting and monitoring nesting sites of Least Terns and Wilson’s Plovers. We later formed the St. Johns County Shorebird Partnership (now the St. Johns and Flagler Shorebird Partnership), the second such partnership in Florida.

​Our efforts are twofold: our volunteers assist agency partners in posting nesting sites, and our dedicated bird steward volunteers monitor posted sites on weekends and holidays to ensure nothing disturbs or threatens the nesting birds. The stewards actively engage the public to make people aware of the necessity of protecting the birds and their nesting habitats. They also collect scientific data by surveying the birds and nesting sites on a year round basis. Our stewards primarily work at Matanzas Inlet and Porpoise Point, and occasionally at Anastasia State Park and Summer Haven when significant colonies are present.

Successes of the project include stopping vehicle traffic at Matanzas Inlet and limiting traffic on Porpoise Point during nesting season. Through the efforts of the stewards we have fostered a greater public understanding of the needs of beach-dependent birds. Our surveys help budget-strapped agencies collect the data they need to make informed management decisions.

In recognition of the project’s success, St. Johns County Audubon was awarded Audubon Florida’s Conservation Chapter of the Year award for 2007. In 2010, the project’s bird stewards were again recognized by Audubon Florida for their conservation efforts on behalf of beach-dependent birds.